By Sean Delaney
Team Toronto is ready to deliver second booster doses to more residents now that the Province of Ontario has opened up eligibility.
During a recent visit to a Toronto Public Health (TPH) vaccine pop-up clinic at Eglinton Square, Mayor John Tory, accompanied by Councillor Joe Mihevc (Spadina-Fort York), Chair of the Board of Health, and Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, confirmed that the Team Toronto network of more than 500 pharmacies, doctors’ offices, City of Toronto-run clinics, mobile clinics, school clinics, and pop-up clinics are ready to deliver more booster doses now that eligibility has opened up.
The TPH City-run immunization clinics and mobile clinics alone are ready to provide more than 3,500 daily doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
Effective Thursday, July 14, individuals age 18 and older who received their third dose (first booster) five months ago will be eligible for a second booster dose. This group joins previously announced eligible high-risk groups, which includes individuals aged 60 and older, immunocompromised individuals, and First Nations, Inuit or Métis peoples.
Team Toronto has already delivered almost 240,000-second booster doses to eligible people.
High-risk groups, including individuals who are moderate to severely immunocompromised, should get their second booster as soon as possible. Individuals infected with COVID-19 need to wait three months before receiving their next dose.
A new bivalent COVID-19 vaccine is anticipated to be approved by Health Canada this fall, which may offer more targeted protection against the Omicron variants.
As of July 7, approximately 874,700 Toronto residents aged 18 to 59 will be eligible to receive their second booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with more becoming eligible in the coming weeks.
First, second, third (first booster), and fourth (second booster) doses remain available to residents by appointment or walk-in across the six City-run COVID-19 immunization clinics. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are available. A health card is not needed.
More information, including details about each clinic location, is available on the City’s, COVID-19: Where to Get Vaccinated webpage.
Look it up at:
www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-vaccines/covid-19-how-to-get-vaccinated/